


Power play for two please

by Kunstpause



Series: Ambitions [6]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 20:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8415181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kunstpause/pseuds/Kunstpause
Summary: “You Sith with your alchemy and ghosts, you must think you are so very clever.” His tone was biting and if looks could kill Shiwon would have certainly been on fire by now.





	

The footsteps came to a halt in front of her but Shiwon made an effort to look utterly unaware and absorbed in the tablets she was reading. 

 

“Empress.” Came a short and impatient sounding greeting.

 

She was using her best ‘I am already bored by this’ voice when she greeted back without even lifting her head. “Emperor Arcann - what a pleasure to have you here. What can we do for you?” _'This time'_ her mind completed the sentence silently.

 

She continued writing down notes as if he weren’t standing right in front of her. Shiwon had never been good with responding to authority and being conquered by a technological superior Empire had done nothing to change that. 

 

As usual for their meetings Arcann in turn wasn’t very good at concealing how much her behaviour irritated him.  
“Well, since you ask,” he sneered, “I was hoping for you to start showing some respect one of these days.”  
Shiwon couldn’t help herself and let out a sharp laugh. She finally raised her eyes to look at him and pushed her reading glasses up her nose a bit.

 

“Respect? I am sorry, you must have confused us with some other people you conquered. Perhaps go and look over at the Republic if they still have some. I am afraid we are all out.” She clasped her hands together in front of her, waiting for his inevitable storm out of her throne chambers like it usually happened during his little sporadic visits. Since the treaty was signed they had been happening irregularily. This time he surprised her though. Usually he challenged her to acknowledge his superiority and when she didn’t bite he soon left, mostly mumbling something about this ‘not being worth his time’. But not so this time it seemed. This time he narrowed his uncovered eye at her.

 

“You are treading on very thin ice,” he hissed. “After all, your position, your title… it is only here because I still allow it.” A decade ago the pure menace in his voice coupled with the immense power he wielded would have given Shiwon pause. But she was long past those worries. But despite her personally not being afraid of him it would still be in her Empire’s best interest if he left as soon as possible.She knew that. And Shiwon considered herself an Empress of the people after all. Sadly when that philosophy went to war with her intense urge to piss people off that tried to order her around the later usually won.

 

She leaned forward, resting her chin on her clasped hands. “And what would you do?” Her voice was sweet and sounded perfectly calm. “Replace me? I have the support of my people. Unless you have no use for tributes anymore and can can afford to kill them all you need me in charge.” She could see the annoyance in him rise. She had an entire arsenal of comments at her disposal that usually got him to leave in a huff of annoyance rather quickly. Outright challenging him was usually not one of them.

 

“Most of your people know how to behave, something that can not be said about you. You should be careful, accidents are known to happen.” His voice sounded almost equally as calm as hers at that. Shiwon was very sure that if the half-mask weren’t there, there would be a fake smile plastered on his face.

 

She snorted softly before she leaned back a bit, appearing completely relaxed. Something she had perfected in her first week on the dark council, many many years ago. But while she was bluffing her way through her early days as a Darth this time there was no posturing behind it.

 

“Arcann, Arcann, Arcann,” she sounded almost like she was scolding him. She had put the the tablets aside and stood, moving casually back and forth in front of her throne. “We’ve been through this. Better men than you have tried and you know what it got them.” She knew he was itching to draw his lightsaber. He always was when they met. Reliable like clockwork. Shiwon had to admit she was curious if he would ever snap. She had certainly goaded him enough into it. “I mean, you are certainly welcome to try, but it might get embarrassing for you if it gets out that you can’t kill me.”

 

Arcann’s hand actually twitched over his lightsaber handle at her words but he seemed to make an effort to not lose his temper this time. “You Sith with your alchemy and ghosts, you must think you are so very clever.” His tone was biting and if looks could kill Shiwon would have certainly been on fire by now. 

 

“I am almost impressed that you have done your homework.” She answered. The surprise about his knowledge of her specific ghost affinity must have shown on her face for a moment because he immediately picked up on it. 

 

The look he gave her could only be described as smug. “I have. As it turns out not only is my military but also my intelligence service vastly superior to yours.” Shiwon couldn’t help herself of rolling her eyes at this but she didn’t interrupt him. “I know about your little ghost rituals. About your pet projects in the Yavin system. I know that if I strike you down here and now you’d only come back again and again.”

 

It shouldn’t surprise Shiwon that he found those things out and it didn’t. But she had expected him to take at least a year longer. She also fully expected him to try and kill her before that at least once already. So much for her carefully put together contingency plans then.

 

“Well, colour me impressed my liege,” she retorted with dripping sarcasm. “You managed to learn something all on your own.” And just because she could and because in her situation she had little pleasures left she added: “Your father must be so proud of you!”

 

In an instant he was right in front of her with cold fury in his eye. He wasn’t touching her but he was close enough so she could see the tiny scars along the border of his mask. Close enough that she would have felt his breath on her if his face weren’t covered. Too close for comfort. 

 

“I may not be able to kill you,” he spat, “but believe me, I have learned everything about you. Every single file your spies or my spies have written, I have read them all.”  
Shiwon stood her ground, not moving even a millimetre back. “Aw your majesty, you shouldn’t have!” She threw out in the most obviously fake coy way she could. “So much effort just to get to know me - I don't know about Zakuul but over here you start with dinner first.” 

 

A long time ago her teachers at the academy had complained that she was reckless. That she knew not when to quit. That she had little to no self-preservation. Shiwon had always laughed at that but right in this moment she had to admit they were probably onto something because Arcann’s eyes turned even colder .

 

“Laugh it up all you want but the fact is, I know everything about you.” It wasn’t possible but it felt like he was even closer than before. “Every little weakness. You may not be able to die, but I can make not-dying very, very uncomfortable for you.” There was no question about the severity of his threat, Shiwon was sure of it. Nor did she doubt that he would absolutely make good on this promise. He was, after all, not really known for being mild mannered and calm. But as much as he was a product of his upbringing, so was she. Shiwon only knew one solution to being cornered or threatened. Assault.

 

“Well,” she made a show of letting her eyes wander up and down her opponent. “It seems all those files about me were incomplete after all.” She raised her eyebrows while her voice lowered. “Or you would have known already that I kind of enjoy that sort of thing.”

 

If the situation had been any less precarious she would have delighted in the mix of slight confusion and beginning horror on his face at her words. A moment and a frustrated growl later he was almost out of the throne room already. Shiwon wondered briefly if she should push her luck before she realised that there really wasn’t an other option for her when she already called after him “Do call sometimes!” before the door fell closed behind him with a loud smash.

 

Out of the shadows one of her advisers stepped forward, looking worried as she let herself fall back onto the throne in exhaustion. She would never show it outwardly but the increasing visits and tribute demands had her permanently on edge. Her absolute inability to be even the slightest bit polite towards the man who was at fault for every single thing that went wrong in the past five years wasn’t helping. 

 

“Your highness,” the adviser spoke up. “Should we increase the guards for your protection?” The young lord seemed genuinely worried but Shiwon only shook her head.

 

“No, the only thing that would go up is the number of dead guards should he ever try anything, I am rather certain of it.” She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before she went back into her hardened self. If it ever came down to an actual fight between them she wasn’t sure if she could win. She tried her best not to dwell on it any longer than necessary.

 

Shiwon sat up straight and opened her eyes again while turning to her adviser. “Let's get back to work. Where are we on the search for this mystical rebellious alliance?”


End file.
